We made....the....LIST!

One of my obsessive compulsive neurotic tendencies is my book-checking ritual on Amazon. I go to www.amazon.com, type in my name in the search bar and wait for my books to appear. Then I click on each one, checking the sales ranking and hoping there's a new review posted by a dear, thoughtful reader. Usually, there are no new reviews and the sales rankings display numbers so large it's difficult to fathom how many books I'd have to beat to improve my numbers. 

Today when I checked, though, I was pleasantly surprised to see a Listmania! list created by J. Whitford of Falls Church, VA, featuring Bookworms Anonymous! I'm not kidding--check it out here: J. Whitford's Listmania List. I tried to contact J. Whitford but couldn't find an email listed on the Amazon profile. I found a comment regarding listmaking--one of my favorite pasttimes. I think J. Whitford and I might have a lot in common.

So, thank you, J. Whitford, and if you happen to read this, please know that I appreciate your public acknowledgment and praise of my book.  I'm so glad to know people in book clubs are reading my work and enjoying it!


Thank you, thank you and thank you.

The Invention of Everything Else

This novelized version of Nikola Tesla's last days provides a painless history lesson and a glimpse of what might have been, had his lab been suitably funded to build everything he imagined. It's disconcerting to contemplate the possibilities of free, wireless electricity for everyone (surely that would have been impossible, right?) and the numerous patents and inventions for which he didn't receive credit. Tesla's fictional encounters with a curious chamber maid at the Hotel New Yorker are interspersed with his reveries, hallucinations and imaginings. I found myself wishing I could meet and converse with Mr. Tesla.




Tesla's personal views on love (a distraction that detracts from thought and innovation), vegetarianism (for it), and capitalism (against it) as well as his obsessive-compulsive tendencies (the number 3 and germs) captured him in a realistic dimension.

The only part I didn't enjoy, and the reason I'm giving this review four rather than five stars, is the storyline about the chamber maid's home life and father, particularly the part about the time machine. This portion of the story weakened the impact of the overall book.